The study which was conducted by The African Child Policy Forum in collaboration with UNICEF-ESARO surveyed over 4,000 African Children in Angola Botswana, Burundi, Ethiopia, Malawi, Rwanda, Somalia and Tanzania.
"Despite the fact these countries are known to be among the poorest and with the lowest Human Development Indicators in the world, the survey shows that children in these countries are in general happy, positive and very optimistic about their countries development, the most notable exceptions being Ethiopia and Burundi." Makda Taffese, Program Officer with the Forum told a press conference.
"Whilst 78 per cent of the children in the other countries say they are happy, only 45 per cent of the children living in Ethiopia and Burundi claim to be so." She added.
According to the study, the majority of children and youth feel that life in their countries is better now than it was ten years ago (64%) and that it will be better still in the future (68%) . Without fail, they expect to do better themselves than their parents (79%) "Children in Angola, Botswana, Rwanda and Tanzania are the happiest and the most optimistic about the future, Makda said adding that that may well be explained by the fact that some were just coming out of "a traumatic war and conflict (Angola and Rwanda)" whilst the other have seen the exercise and blossoming of democratic governance (Botswana and Tanzania).
In the study, children were also asked who they look up to and who serves as a role model for them, the findings revealed that artists and athletes seem to score high while teachers and politicians are the least regarded.
But it said that "the exception is Tanzania where more than third said they trusted or had a high opinion of politicians, with the next best being Malawi and Rwanda at 16 percent." Meanwhile, the study showed that a significant proportion of children "three out of every ten children" would prefer to live outside their country given the choice to.
According to the study "Malawi at 45 per cent and Botswana at 38 per cent had the highest number of children that would want to migrate.
On the other hand, children in Tanzania and Rwanda - at 16 per cent and 20 per cent respectively - were the least likely to want to leave their countries." Despite their largely positive relationships with parents, almost 40 per cent of the children (37%) believe their opinions and views are not taken into consideration adequately when decisions that directly concern them are made in the home.
Furthermore, almost a fifth of the students found it difficult or very difficult to discuss school problems with their teachers - particularly in Ethiopia (31%) and Botswana (28%). The reason most frequently given was "teachers don't listen" (30%). Children felt least consulted on matters that affect their community, the study showed. On Average, 17 per cent felt they were being consulted on community issues, with the lowest rate reported being from Ethiopia (4%) and the highest from Rwanda (30%).
The surveys suggest a stronger link between the state of mind of children and youth on the one hand and political stability, peace and good governance on the other.
Source: The Daily Monitor
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